"It is approaching the 400th anniversary of the execution of the witch of Little Foxwood. The whole village is excitedly preparing to mark the occasion with a bonfire party in the square. 14-year old Tom Storey, however, is not. He has just begaun a quest for the truth about some of his ancestors and as a result, his world meets the world of the supernatural head on. The legend of the witch and Tom's own research intertwine and lead Tom to discover a terrible secret of injustice and revenge that has haunted his family for centuries."

I saw a review of this in one of the genealogical magazines, or a family history society magazine. Bought direct from the author

I'd been itching to read this one since I bought it. I took it with me on my holiday last month, but didn't get chance to read it then, but recently ceased the opportunity. Started last night and finished this evening....a page turner!

Written in a young adult style, it was the gentle story of a teenager who develops the family history bug. In general the genealogical aspects were well researched, with a little poetic license! Well pulled together and a delight to read.

It is the only copy registered on Book Crossing, and does deserve to be read by others, it may well go out on a bookring before joining my permenant collection.

I did like this story, but felt that the pace was a bit slower than I would have liked and it does seem to have a few of the hallmarks of a self/privately published book, without the 'polish' of a professionally edited, commercial publication. However, that said, Benjamin Nicholls does manage to tell the potentially rather dull story of a child researching his family history in a way that is exciting and pretty gripping.

Thanks for the chance to read this book, AnglersRest! I'll PM Sherlockfan now :)

Arrived in Wellington today, very nicely wrapped and suffering no mishaps in the post. Looks good. Mt TBR isn't good but there is no other bookring/ray waiting attention so I should be able to get onto it fairly soon.

Currently working hard to finish this month's book club book, Bill Bryson's "Short History of Nearly Everything" which, while interesting and written in a readable layman style, is still full of quite heavy things and lots on information. I'm not even trying to assimilate it all but as we have a copy of our own I will know where I can go to look things up if stumped by a grandchild's homework question!!

I am no longer familiar enough with the teen genre to be able to make truly erudite comments on that aspect of the book. I started the book one night when very tired so only managed half a chapter BUT next morning I started again and read the whole book right through keenly, too interested to stop for breakfast. Interesting story with a great theme.

There were lots of aspects I really liked, in particular I thought the slowly developing relationship between Tom and Mary was well handled. I also liked the Viney tie in.

The characters are well described and realistic; Susan at the library was a typically helpful librarian - once she understood that Tom was serious; I've met them like that, and in particular one in Ayrshire who was very stand-oddish to start with but soon warmed to the task. It is great to see youngsters developing an interest in family history and this was a super tale for that.

One place that I thought was poorly handled was when Tom got an envelope through the mail and a card fell out. IMO there was an unsatisfactory explanation about that contact - it could have been described much more dramatically. Perhaps that thought is supported by Perditaxknit's comment that implied that professional editing might have helped.

Please send me your address AnglersRest and I'll post it back to you right away - I can see why you want to put it in your permanent collection. Regards

By coincidence I recently received an email from the author, because of the journal entries on Book Crossing, and was delighted! I have recently updated the link to the author and now see that there is going to be four more in the series.